


what we give away

by unholyconfessions (orphan_account)



Series: The Barry/Eddie Tumblr Prompt Extravaganza '15 [1]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Cuddling, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Ficlet Collection, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Protectiveness, Schmoop, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-23
Updated: 2016-07-17
Packaged: 2018-03-08 18:19:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,907
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3218759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/unholyconfessions
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A look into Barry and Eddie's relationship through small moments in a thousand different universes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. one

**Author's Note:**

  * For [define_serenity](https://archiveofourown.org/users/define_serenity/gifts).



> This is based off [this](http://eddiethcwne.tumblr.com/post/108339749601/thallen) ship meme I answered on Tumblr. I'll mostly be expanding on all of those little prompts.
> 
> Chapter one is an extended version of the _'who holds the umbrella when it rains'_ part of the meme.
> 
> Unbetaed as usual. Feedback is appreciated.
> 
> Enjoy!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which it's raining, Eddie is grumpy and tired, and Barry doesn't want him to get wet.

“Allen, what are you doing?” Eddie asks as Barry runs up to his desk and takes the umbrella he keeps in the bottom drawer. He turns in his chair, raises his eyebrows at Barry, and waits for an answer that doesn’t come.

Barry points at the door without uttering a word and Eddie shakes his head, goes back to the report he was reading. He moves his fingers to his temple as he flips through the pages, tries to will away the headache that’s been pressing to his eyeballs since Singh dumped this case on him.

He sighs when Barry doesn’t give any indication that he's leaving, turning back around to find Barry staring at him, an easy smile on his lips.

Eddie takes the bait, even though he knows he shouldn’t. “Fine. What?”

“You look like you need to eat,” Barry says, nodding at the exit, and grabs the jacket that was draped over Eddie’s chair. “C’mon, Eddie. Just five minutes, ten at the most. I promise.”

Eddie rubs at his eyes and rolls his shoulders back, hears the loud crack as his bones move along each other and slide into place. He glances up at Barry.

“You really need to stop doing that,” he mutters when the sight of Barry’s smile starts to dissolve the tension in his shoulders. 

He scrambles to his feet, taking his jacket when Barry hands it to him, and doesn’t fight a smile at Barry’s gentle tug on his sleeve. 

Barry stops him with a hand around his wrist as they step out into the rain, his fingers cold against Eddie’s skin. Eddie glances at it and back up at Barry; Barry shakes his head, adjusting his grip on the umbrella so they’re both sheltered from the rain, says, “I'm not letting you get wet.”

“It’s literally across the street, Bar,” Eddie says, gesturing at the coffee shop with a hand as they wait for the light to turn green. “I’m not going to melt.”

Barry smiles again, that one that makes Eddie feel alight and exposed, and Eddie averts his eyes, lets Barry pull him in, closer, under his arm as it splays out across Eddie’s shoulders. Barry chuckles at the quiet groan that escapes Eddie’s chest.

Later, before they head home for the night, Eddie grabs Barry by the neck and kisses him in the deserted hallway, whispers an apology between a kiss and another. Barry shakes his head, goes for a deeper, longer kiss, and he still tastes like coffee, cinnamon, and an indecent amount of whipped cream. 

Eddie can’t complain.


	2. two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Barry is sick and stubborn, and Eddie worries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was going to do this in order, but I guess not. I really wanted to write sick!Barry, and an anon [prompted](http://sammyshutyourcakehole.tumblr.com/post/109978876441/i-saw-that-you-are-taking-prompts-and-i-have-one) protective!Eddie in my ask on Tumblr, so I chose the _'who worries more when the other is sick/hurt'_ part of the meme this time.
> 
> Not beta read. Feedback is appreciated. Enjoy!

Eddie first notices something’s wrong when he opens the door to his place and everything is dark except for the TV, which has _The Notebook_ on. That alone is already worrying, but the fact that he can hear Barry trying to breathe through a stuffy nose all the way at the door means there's a need for drastic measures.

The door closes with a soft click behind Eddie as he drops his keys onto the counter and walks over to where Barry is on his couch, hidden amidst layers of blankets even though it’s a hundred degrees outside.

Eddie kneels before Barry, presses a kiss to the tip of Barry’s red nose, says, “Hey, babe.”

Barry makes a noise in his chest—one that says he’s slightly annoyed but that he also wants Eddie to kiss him again. Eddie does, chuckling, his fingers curled around Barry’s knees.

“I thought you were gonna stay home,” Eddie tells him, loosening his tie as he settles on the spot next to Barry.

He taps his lap once, twice, and Barry doesn’t even look his way before scooting closer and letting the side of his head hit Eddie’s thighs with a thump, muffled by the blankets. Eddie sighs when Barry doesn’t respond, not with words, and adjusts the blankets around Barry’s frame so he can bury his hand in Barry’s hair.

“I _am_ home,” Barry answers after a while, through his nose, like he’s offended Eddie would ever think otherwise.

Eddie smiles but doesn’t reply, choosing to press a kiss to Barry’s temple instead. Barry melts against him, mutters something Eddie doesn’t understand, and Eddie keeps threading his fingers through Barry’s damp hair until Barry’s shallow breathing becomes quieter, deeper.

“Bar?” he asks, quiet enough that Barry will hear if he’s awake, but not wake up if he’s asleep. 

Eddie sighs in relief when the answer doesn’t come and presses his palm to Barry’s forehead to check his temperature: he's burning up. He slowly lifts Barry’s head from his lap and scrambles to his feet. Barry mumbles something in his sleep but doesn’t wake up, and Eddie watches him for a moment, tries to figure out a way to drag him into the shower without disturbing his sleep.

He realizes, after a minute, when he has Barry thrown over his shoulder, his hand on the back of Barry’s thighs to keep him from falling, that there was probably no way in hell he could’ve done this without waking Barry up.

“Eddie, what are you doing?” Barry mumbles, unable to hide the hoarseness in his voice, and slaps Eddie on the ass in a measly attempt to get Eddie to put him down.

“Taking care of you,” Eddie tells him, slapping his ass in return. “You’re sick, Bar.”

“No, I’m not. I’m fine. I’m totally fine,” Barry counters, just as a sneeze escapes his chest. He groans, burying his head on the curve of Eddie’s neck when Eddie puts him down, and mutters against Eddie's skin, “Oh, _God_. I’m dying.”

Eddie chuckles, turning on the shower, and gives Barry a kiss even though Barry complains about germs and getting him sick. Eddie shakes his head, smiles against Barry’s mouth, and says, “Get your ass in there, Allen.”


	3. three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Eddie can't remember when it started, and Barry reminds him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based on the _who says ‘i love you’ first_ part of the meme.
> 
> Unbetaed. Rating's gone up just to be safe. Enjoy. :-)

They haven’t been doing this for a very long time. Maybe a month, maybe more, but Eddie hasn’t been counting. 

They had an agreement, at first: absolutely no sleepovers. Eddie suggested it because it was easier than dealing with the fact that he could, and he _would_ , eventually fall in love with Barry Allen. 

It should have been awkward, the first time it happened—because they still hadn’t gone in a proper date and Eddie could swear Barry was keeping his distance—but it wasn’t. They fit, somehow, when Barry came knocking on Eddie’s door after a grueling day at the station, his eyes red and drained, and Eddie pulled him into a hug.

Barry’s fingers curled around the back of Eddie’s shirt, tight enough that Eddie thought the fabric might rip if he moved as much as an inch. They moved in synchronicity, after that—hands reaching at clothes, teeth sinking into skin, limbs entangled as they fell into bed.

It happened again after a week, and then after a day. Eddie lost himself in it, in Barry, in this gravitational pull that mediates them, and it’s still hard, sometimes, to think about how far they’ve come, how used Eddie is to having Barry occupy the other side of the bed.

Eddie can’t say _the_ words, not yet, but Barry knows, he can tell. 

It’s in every smile Barry gives him as he rolls off Eddie and back onto the mattress, sweat and sex attached to him like a second skin, and Eddie chases him without a thought, his mouth finding Barry’s neck, his teeth abusing the already damaged area. Barry laughs then, always does, pushes his hips up toward Eddie’s even though they’re both spent, and Eddie breathes him in, tastes the perfect expanse of Barry’s shoulder and moves down to his chest, bites down onto a nipple when he gets to it. 

And then, it happens: the words escape Eddie's mouth before he has a chance to filter them, syllables stumbling away in the midst of Barry’s moans, lost in this infinite universe they have created just for them. 

He isn’t sure Barry’s heard them, isn’t sure he _wants_ Barry to hear them.

He allows them to float away in an airless place, doesn’t seem to be able to breathe until Barry’s mouth curves against his chest, later, when sleep has caught up to them, and the words, “I love you too, Eddie,” suddenly fill the vacuum.


	4. four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Barry is lazy and tired and Eddie just goes with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Based on the _who drools on the other's chest_ part of the meme.

It starts with a casual, “Hey, can I crash at your place?” from Barry a week into their relationship, after work.

Eddie agrees with a smile, happy to have Barry for more than a few stolen minutes at work. 

He doesn’t answer with words, the first time: he simply pulls Barry by the collar of his shirt, stumbles into his apartment in a tangle of limbs and tongues, one hand fisted in Barry’s hair.

Barry smiles into the kiss, nice and easy, helps Eddie leave a trail of clothes down the hall and to Eddie’s bedroom, pulls Eddie down to the bed before Eddie’s fully undressed.

Eddie doesn’t protest, not out loud, chooses to show his disapproval by dipping his teeth into Barry’s skin, into the curve of where shoulder meets neck, making Barry squirm and whimper under him.

It’s not long before Barry’s body relaxes against the mattress, his arms limp and his chest falling into a steady rise-and-fall.

Eddie sighs, accepts defeat, and tucks Barry in. Barry mumbles something unintelligible in his sleep, blindly reaching out to grab Eddie’s hand and tug him close, rest his cheek on Eddie’s chest.

Eddie falls asleep before he realizes it, and wakes up in the morning with a bitter taste on his tongue and Barry’s drool on his undershirt. He smiles, his fingers lost in Barry’s hair, and Barry smiles back, still asleep, and burrows closer to him.


	5. five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> > who is always the first to suggest cuddling on the sofa.

The first time Barry sleeps over at Eddie’s place, they haven’t planned it.

Barry arrives at Eddie’s an hour late with an ice-cold pack of beer and a smile that makes Eddie’s knees weak. Barry kisses him as if they weren’t on a date just the day before, and Eddie finds it impossible _not_ to let Barry get away with being however late he wants.

They settle on the couch with Barry’s beers and Eddie’s reheated pizza, and spend the next half hour browsing Netflix’s romance selection. They settle on About Time for Eddie’s love of romance and Barry’s liking for time-travel; it’s a good compromise. 

Five minutes into the movie and a beer later, they’re pressed hip to knee. Eddie melts into Barry’s warmth and the alcohol doesn’t help with his inhibitions, so when he finds himself, ten minutes later, with a lap full of Barry’s leg, he absentmindedly doodles circles on the inside of Barry’s thigh. 

Barry squirms whenever Eddie’s hand goes too close to his crotch for comfort, but after another bottle the concept of personal space has been all but erased from his vocabulary.

Halfway through the movie, Eddie has his hand buried in the strands of Barry’s hair, stroking until Barry’s eyes flutter shut and his chest rises in peaceful slumber. 

In the middle of the night, when they stir awake to the sound of an ambulance in the distance, their bodies pressed tight against one another, Barry murmurs, “’m cold,” and Eddie grabs the blanket he keeps neatly thrown over the back of his couch to cover them up to the waist.

He kisses the side of Barry’s neck goodnight and turns off the TV. 

Neither of them remembers the movie.


End file.
